Flannery Pride
by Freakishlylovable
Summary: Matt and Emily broke up four years ago.  Now Matt is in LA and has moved on.  And Emily lives out East and is engaged to be married.  But a case, and fate, brings them together again.  But the question is, is fate strong enough to overthrow Flannery Pride
1. Flannery Pride

_Here's another fanfic called Flannery Pride. It's set four years after Severence. Review!!!_

It had been four years. If Emily Lehman had thought about it, she would have found that extremely hard to believe.

Four years ago, on a late night when she wasn't on call, you would usually find her curled up in Matt Flanney's arms. She would be laying in bed, feeling a slight draft because after their previous activities there were very little sheets left on the bed, and Matt would be holding her in his arms. His arms would wrap around her, the tenseness in them suddenly disappearing while he was holding her. Emily would run her finger up and down his arm, gently caressing his skin. Three years ago, Emily would still be able to lay in bed all alone, but still feel Matt's arms around her, giving her the feeling of absolute safety and happiness, and also leaving her with a feeling of bitterness and ache, knowing that this feeling would only be in her memories. She lost the real life Matt forever.

Now that memory was so distant she rarely gave any thought to it. Now on a late night, she would be curled up in Lucas Gahm's arms. Lucas Gahm is her fiancé. And though Emily hasn't given Matt much thought in a good two years, if she ever did think about those nights with Matt again, Lucas would most definitely not tolerate it. But since she transferred out to Virginia, actually Quantico, thinking about Matt hasn't been a problem.

Emily didn't want to transfer across the country, but after her breakup it was too much. Being partnered with Matt was hard enough, so they asked for a transfer of partners, but remained in LA. And that worked out pretty well. Emily had a new partner, who she was sure not to sleep with this time, and Matt had his partner. They didn't have to worry about disagreements or arguments in a negotiation anymore. And considering that a bad negotiation broke them up, she was thankful for that.

She always still saw Matt in the office when they both weren't out with their new partners putting out fires, which was okay for a while. It was okay when she held onto the hope that she and Matt were going to get back together. At times she was actually sure that they would. When she went to bed and ached for Matt, she convinced herself that he would eventually come to his senses. That this was just temporary. They don't have the juggling act of being partners too to deal with, so she was convinced they would be together again and things would be different, and that in a few days things would be better. But a few days turned into a few weeks, which turned into months. And once Emily hit the one year mark without Matt, she just couldn't do it anymore. For whatever reason Matt didn't want her back, whether it was because he didn't love her anymore, or stupid Flannery pride, Emily came to terms with the fact that it was over. So once she knew he was never coming back, she asked for a transfer. She originally went out to New York City, very far away from Flannery, but she somehow ended up in the BAU, Behavioral Analysis Unit, based in the FBI Headquarters in Quantico. Ironically, she rejected a offer from Quantico before to stay with Matt, and that ended up where she fled to to get away from him.

At any rate, being across the country from Matt helped her finally get over him. And she ended up meeting Lucas there. One of her friends out east set her up on a blind date to help her meet some guys in the place she called her new home. Emily begrudgingly agreed, and she would normally never agree to a blind date, but with the lost of Matt she needed a distraction. And Lucas, who was originally her distraction, turned out to be a seriously relationship, and then led to an engagement. Which was unexpected, but Emily wasn't willing to argue with love anymore. Running away from love never seemed to do her any good, so she didn't bother running from Lucas, because she does think she loves him. But that doesn't mean that she has opened up to him completely, but she's realized that she can't have everything in a relationship. She had to stop being picky. Lucas took her out on vacation when she had time off, which she was grateful for because she needed a break, but he surprised her by proposing to her. How could she turn down an offer of someone wanting to love her completely for the rest of their life? And when she was with Lucas, she didn't have that aching feeling late at night anymore.

With her new home, which isn't so new anymore. New job, new fiancé, and ultimately new life, Matt Flannery has finally escaped her thoughts. And Emily Lehman, has actually escaped Matt Flannery's thoughts.

In fact, right now Matt was walking down the CNU Headquarters to talk to Cheryl, who nervously said that she needed to talk to him. Which didn't please him too much because she called him on his day off, the day he was spending with his girlfriend Merideth. But Cheryl said she needed to discuss the new case he was set to work on.

Quantico called LA's CNU, and said that they needed a CNU Agent to work on a case with them out in Virginia, and Matt jumped at the offer, which Cheryl granted to her best agent. In the case that he was set to work on, he had to deal with a bomber who seemed to have a fetish with killing teenage girls. He seemed to be unpredictable, all the girls were from different parts of Virginia, and there was no knowing who he was going to target next. The FBI was getting a lot of heat for this, and they needed more agents, fast.

Long story short, Matt was leaving for FBI Headquarters in Virginia tomorrow, and he wanted to spend his last day here with Merideth, much to Frank and Duff's annoyance who referred to Matt as "whipped", much to Matt's annoyance. And Matt actually cared for Merideth, maybe not love her, but cared enough to skip out on poker and beers with the guys. But Cheryl, being her typical self, called on Matt at his least favorite time.

"Matt, there you are." Cheryl said, quickly putting her coffee mug down. She tried to discretely hide it behind a stack of paperwork, so Matt wouldn't see it. The whole CNU had become agitated with her constant need for coffee and convinced her to stop drinking it. It was true that she was getting a little jumpy with her constant need to caffeine, which managed to aggravate the agents, Matt in particular. But she learned that trying to quit cold turkey wasn't the best way. So, she drank coffee when she thought no one was around.

"You know I can still see the mug." Matt commented with a grin.

"I know I said I'd stop, but it's harder than you think. I'm trying to figure out which is harder, quitting coffee or smoking." She said with guilt in her voice.

"I've known for weeks. You're even worse than me at hiding things, which is saying lot." Matt said, referring to the incident where he revealed that he was sleeping with his partner. This was actually this first time the slightest thought of Emily crossed his mind in a long time.

"Hey, by hiding this from you, I've had to worry about getting caught, so I've cut back, it's done it's job. But back to business." Cheryl said, not exactly sure how to break this to Matt. Her hesitation must have been picked up by Matt because after years of working with Cheryl, he knew that look on her face meant he was about to hear something he wouldn't like.

"Hey, Cher," he began. He always said Cher to get her attention, and it was his way of letting Cheryl know he wasn't going to be snide or offensive about whatever she was about to say.

"What's up?" he asked. Cheryl must have picked up his message of leniency, because she came out with it.

"I was reviewing the list of agents you would be working with." she started.

"And how is this worth pulling me away from Merideth?" Matt asked, realizing he interrupted Cheryl, when he is supposed to just listen, so he immediately apologized.

"Yeah, and you have a some really good agents working on the case. Like Agent Crosby, Agent Kovacs, Agent Lehman, Agent Vitello." she quickly ranted off. Matt just sat there for a second. Cheryl wasn't sure that he heard her correctly. Finally he spoke.

"Um, did you say Agent Lehman?" Matt asked.

"Yeah." Cheryl slowly said.

"That's funny. I guess Lehman's a popular name." Matt said.

"Matt, I checked. It's definitely Emily." Cheryl said begrudgingly. But Matt was surprisingly stoic. Cheryl couldn't exactly tell what he was thinking.

"Okay," he began slowly. "I thought she transferred out to New York, not the BAU in Quantico."

"Well, she somehow ended up there." Cheryl responded. Matt was silent for a moment, now he seemed lost in thought.

For once, Cheryl wasn't sure what to say. And she usually knew the right thing to say, especially with Matt, who she had known for so long. But now she didn't. Anything she said could just incriminate her. Matt played off his breakup with Emily as if Emily was just another fling of his, and that he was not hurt about it at all. But after a drunk night at Sloan's with Frank and Duff, Matt revealed just how much he really cared for her. He revealed that he loved her, and could possibly spend the rest of his life with her. But he also said he would not be the one to come crawling back to Emily, he did have some dignity. And that was something he wasn't going to let a woman take away from him. So, Frank had to blab this to Cheryl, but she kept it silent and let Matt pretend that everything with Emily meant nothing. If he wanted to talk to her about his ex he would. But pushing Flannery to open up wasn't something that was going to help the situation.

So Cheryl sat there, not saying anything, because she was sure that Matt didn't want to see Emily, but he would never admit that. And if she said she knew the truth she, and not to mention Frank, would be in trouble. Cheryl knew that an angry Matt was not someone to mess with. But finally Matt broke the silence.

"And you thought this would change things?" he said, his foolish Flannery pride coming into play yet again.

"Possibly." Cheryl quickly said.

"It's not a problem, I mean, it's been four years."

"Okay. I guess I was being paranoid. I'll let you get back to your day then."

"Great. Try not to drink too much of that coffee while I'm gone." Matt said before leaving.

"Yeah." Cheryl said quietly to herself, suddenly not needing the coffee. The thought that was going around in her head was that Matt took this okay, but what about Emily? She was the one who moved across the country to get away from him.

But Emily was engaged to be married, Matt far out of her mind. But fate had a few things in mind too. Either fate wanted to test Emily's commitment to Lucas, or wanted to bring her back together with Matt. But could fate be strong enough to overthrow Flannery pride?

_There have been some stories like this, so I added in Emily's engagment and a few other things later on. So hopefully it will be different. Tell me what you think!!!_


	2. Nothing's Changed

"And you have to go why?" Meredith asked.

"Meredith, we've been through this." Matt said, shutting his suitcase, just about ready to leave.

"I already hate that you are putting your life on the line when I'm a few miles away. How can I deal with my boyfriend being in danger when he's all the way across the country, instead of next door?" she asked in a final attempt to get Matt to stay in LA. Then her lips starting caressing his.

"Mer," he said in between kisses. "I've-got-to-go." he said, finally pulling away.

"Please?" she asked.

"I'll call you when the plane lands and I'll be fine." he said before giving her one last kiss and running out the door.

By now Matt was sitting on the plane that would take him to his destination, the destination that could just change his life. But Matt didn't really think about that, he was more concerned with the man sitting next to him who had way too many beans to eat before he got on, and the screaming baby a few rows down. This is so far turning out to be great.

* * *

A silver Razor phone was ringing, and a woman's hand fumbled to pick it up.

"Lehman." she said into the speaker, sounding like she had just woken up. "Okay, yeah. I'll be there in a few."

"Work?" Lucas Gahm asked, groggy from waking up at four AM.

"Yeah." Emily distractedly answered, running into the closet to quickly get changed. Lucas just rolled over from his side of the bed to face her.

"Didn't you just get back from work three hours ago?" he asked.

"Ugh, don't remind me." she shouted back from the closet.

"Isn't a soon to be bride only supposed to worry about wedding plans and if you should use ivory or beige napkins at the reception?" Lucas commented.

"How about this?" she said coming out of the closet in her typical jeans, t-shirt, and a jacket. She looks good and is ready for action at a moments notice. "You can do all the wedding plans, and I will be the groom who is blissfully unaware until the wedding day." she said before kissing him.

"I've gotta go." she said, then she checked to make sure she had her gun and left.

"I love you!" Lucas shouted out, but Emily didn't hear. "Not that it matters." he commented to himself before going back to sleep.

"There's been another victim." Supervisory Agent Kovacs said.

"Where this time?" Agent Chloe Crosby asked.

"Just outside of Williamsburg." he answered. "Lehman, there you are"

Emily just walked into the building, after loading up on a little caffeine. The room was full of people, already working there asses off and getting no where, victims were still popping up left and right.

"Who's the victim this time?" Emily asked.

"Tammy Chapman, age 17." Agent Vitello answered.

"Why didn't we hear about this before?" Emily asked.

"We have a million different branches working on this, it must've got lost in the crossfire. We need to work on communication." Kovacs said, while mindlessly signing something.

Kovacs is Emily's boss, and nothing like Cheryl. There is not a relaxed bone in his body, and the slightest disrespect for the rules was intolerable to him. Unless you have a death wish, stay on his good side and listen to his every word. Lets just say he would not have been able to put up with the fiasco that Matt and Emily had caused Cheryl. Not at all. But you can tell by his appearance that he is not one to be messed with. He was a very tall man, fifty years old, but still quite scary. He always wore a suit with a tight collar and tie, and Emily could swear that he ate, drank, and slept in that ensemble.

Agent Chloe Crosby is another female agent. A little older than Emily. Another person you don't want to mess with. She is tough, like every female agent needs to be. But she is blunt, sarcastic, cold, and sometimes just plain old mean. Emily was still trying to figure out how to get on her good side.

Agent Vitello is thirty-eight years old, and a very seasoned agent for that age. But he also has the tendency to be quite a ladies man, always a new girl on his side. The office had bets going for how long his next girlfriend would last. Emily's bet is on three days, but it's usually over much quicker than that. Another thing about him is that every female agent in the FBI wants him, Agent Crosby included. But Kovacs would never stand for interoffice relationships even if it were allowed. But he didn't have to worry about Vitello doing that, Vitello had a rule, never date chicks with guns. Which wasn't the happiest news to Cosby or any female agents, not that Emily put any thought into him, never again will she date a coworker. A rule she made for herself that Kovacs would definitely approve of.

Despite their personality flaws, Emily was working with a good team, but they needed more agents if they were going to crack this case.

"He's a bomber. And usually bombers are cowards." Kovacs said.

"So, he's not a tough guy. Not a guy we'd expect to be a killer." Vitello said.

"But what doesn't make sense is why kill teenage girls? What makes him want these girls as victims?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. Usually with teenage girls there's some sexual assault involved in that. Here there's nothing. He's just getting rid of them from a distance. Why kill them like this? And why them?" Crosby asked.

"Well, Stocker is checking to see if there's any connection between the girls." Kovacs said. But there conversation was broken by Kovac's phone ringing.

"Yeah, okay. We'll meet him in a second." he said into his phone, before hanging up.

"Meet who in a second?" Crosby asked.

"We're running low on agents, so I had the CNU send in one of there men." Kovacs said.

"Or women." Crosby added.

"Sure, but this one's a guy." he replied.

"Do we know anything about the newbie?" Vitello asked. Emily just kept quiet through out this conversation. She knew the chances of them sending anyone she knew from the CNU were slim, but the thought couldn't help but cross her mind.

"Yeah, he's from LA. Matt Flannery." Kovacs said.

"What!" Emily said standing up and almost spilling her coffee all over herself.

"Wow, slick. Is there a problem?" Crosby asked, evidently amused.

"No, I just know him. I'm a little surprised." Emily said quickly recovering. Matt's here, Matt's here. Matt's here. Oh my God, Matt's here.

"I forgot that you worked for the CNU. So, what's this guy like?" Vitello asked.

"And why does it matter?" Emily asked caustically.

"Someone's a little touchy on the subject." Crosby commented.

"No." Emily curtly responded giving Crosby a look between women that meant drop it or you'll regret it.

"Come on. Just one little word about him. Come on Lehman, you've gotta know something." Vitello said.

"Will you drop it? We'll meet him for ourselves." Kovacs said, not realizing he just came to Emily's rescue.

The team walked out to where Matt was waiting, Emily included. Even though she didn't exactly want to come, and made every excuse imaginable to get out of it. But there was no use talking Kovacs out of it.

"Matt Flannery. Right?" Kovacs asked, extending his hand. "I'm Agent Kovacs."

"And these are Agents Vitello," Kovacs said, Vitello giving Matt a quick nod. "Crosby," Crosby gave Matt an even smaller not than Vitello. The two agents could definitely tell that there was some bad blood between this Matt guy and Lehman, or at least a history. "And you already know Agent Lehman." he said, Emily just gave him a weak smile, which was weaker than she ever intended, then ended up biting her lip before finally saying hello. A quick hello, she wouldn't have really said anything at all if everyone wasn't eyeing her, waiting for her to acknowledge that she knew the guy.

"Hey." Matt replied.

"Well, um, we have a lot of work to do, but first lets get you familiar with the place." Kovacs began. "Lehman, why don't you give him a tour."

"Oh, um," Emily started stumbling over words.

"I'm sure I can find my own way around." Matt quickly said.

"No, I insist." Kovacs said giving Matt and Emily a look proving that it wasn't a suggestion, but an order.

"Okay." the two said in unison. Emily just pointed Matt in a direction, and he followed her.

"What was up with that?" Vitello asked.

"What?" Kovacs said, obviously oblivious.

"The tension." Crosby said.

"I don't know what your talking about." Kovacs replied before walking off.

"The guy is brilliant, but doesn't have much perception." Cosby said.

"That's for damn sure. There's something going on there. And you're gonna find out what." Vitello said turning to Cosby.

"I am?" she asked.

"Yeah. You're a woman."

"So?"

"So, dot that girly talking thing and get some information." he said.

"And what if there isn't any information to find?" Cosby asked.

"Of course there is. Look at them." he said pointing to Matt and Emily who were walking a good distance apart, refusing to look at each other. Awkwardness hanging in the air.

"Fine. But you owe me big time." Cosby said before stalking off.

"So," Matt began, desperate to break the silence. "That Kovacs guy, if looks could kill, huh."

"Yeah." Emily replied. "He can be intense, but he always gets the job done that way."

"It almost makes me thankful for Cheryl." Matt said.

"Yes, you begin to miss her highly caffeinated ways." Emily said back. The light bantering tone that they used to always talk in was coming back, if only the slightest bit.

"Not anymore. She's cutting back on the coffee." Matt said as Emily was directing him to the conference room where they would discuss the case.

"Cheryl? Cutting back on coffee?" Emily said disbelievingly

"Well, it started out as her quitting it all together, but that didn't quite work out. So, she settled for cutting back."

"Wow, things have changed." Emily commented.

"Well, Frank's still a little too trigger happy for his own good. And Duff, is just like Frank. And Lia's, Lia." Matt said.

"Then the whole team's still together." Emily said, awkwardly. For the first time in a while, wishing she were back in LA with them. God only knows why, but just the mention of their names made her miss them.

"Yeah. The team's still the team." Matt said.

"Good, then not too much has changed." Emily said, pushing her hair behind her ears. It was at this moment that Matt noticed that she had an engagement ring on.

"Nope, nothing's changed." he managed to get out, even though he felt like he'd just been punched in the stomach. Nothing has changed.

* * *

_Please review. I wanted to write them seeing each other for the first time better, but I decided not to make it such a big moment for what was to come. I had trouble writingt his, but I can't picture Matt or Em making a big deal about seeing each other again. They'd wanna play it off like everything was fine. But there are going to be some other Matt and Emily parts to this that are far more important than them just meetign again, so keep reading and I will promise it will get better._


	3. Three Weeks

**Sorry it's taken so long to update, I got sick and I got writers block for this story. So I'm taking a bit of a different approach with this chapter and I'm changing my original plan a bit. So this chapter is a little sloppy but if you read it up to the end you'll see what I'm leading to. This takes place three weeks after the last chapter. I'd love your reviews!!!

* * *

Three Weeks Later**

A shot glass hit the bar table, as Agents Chloe Cosby and Emily Lehman were trying to take a long needed break from almost a week straight of work without a break. A week straight of work that hasn't seemed to led anywhere. It was exhausting everyone in the BAU to the point of no return.

Matt would head back to his hotel room after work, where he would check his messages and see that he had an unnumerable about of phone messages from his girlfriend from back home, Meredith. Agent Vitello would go back to his apartment and pass out from exhaustion. No late night hookups for him, just sleep. And for the first time in years, a woman actually broke up with him! Usually he let them go way before they had the chance to beat him to the punch. Agent Kovacs would stay in the office for as many hours as he could possibly put in, rereading all of the facts and analyzing to the point where he felt like his brain would explode with information. Emily found herself getting in more and more fights with Lucas over the hours she was working and her lack of interest in their impending wedding. She also felt guilty that she hasn't told Lucas that the new agent at the BAU is her ex. And Chloe Cosby was spending a surprising amount of time with Emily when they had time that wasn't occupied by working or sleeping. Which is what has brought Emily and Chloe to the bar that night.

"Okay, I am cutting myself off for the night," Emily finally said, pushing her drink as far away from her as she could get it, even though she was longing for it. For one of the only times in her life, she felt like she needed to drink away her problems. Work is more stressful than it has ever been and the fact that Matt is working with her adds to the stress. When Matt first showed up it was awkward, then it was tense because she was working with her ex, now Emily and Matt are tense because ,yes, they are getting along, but they are both like magnets when they are near It has been an uphill battle to fight the energy pulling them together and not jump into bed with the each other and cheat on their significant others.

They would both show up at work and continue on with their banter that always managed to put a smile on her face. He would even come to her rescue when it seemed like Kovacs was giving her (and the rest of the team) too difficult of a time. Emily looked out for Matt in his new environment, just as he looked out for her, but their relationship has never bypassed this when it is obvious that each of them are wanting more. Emily knew that it was absolutely horrible to think about herself with another guy while she was engaged to Lucas, but things between the two of them had been growing worse and worse.

She was distancing herself from him as much as she could. Emily knew why, she was scared and ashamed. She was ashamed because she knew her old feelings for Matt were coming back. Again, she had that longing feeling for him at night, she wanted to touch him and do many far more dirty things that she found herself dreaming and fantasizing about. She just wanted the one that got away back in her life.

Emily was scared because these returning feelings for Matt were coming back strong and fast. While her feelings for Lucas seemed to be floating out of her grasp. She was falling for Matt again and if Lucas found that out, he would be out of her life for good, and that's another person she cares (or cared) about leaving her. That was scary. And wanting Matt again, was even scarier.

"You need to get drunker than that, if you're gonna forget your Lucas problems." Chloe said (for some reason that Emily had not figured out yet, Cosby is now letting Emily address her by her first name which is Chloe), reaching for another drink herself. Emily stuck her hand out, and pulled the drink away from Chloe and out of reach of both of them.

"Kovacs would kill us if we showed up for work tomorrow hungover." Emily said, sighing when she looked down at her watch. "It's getting late and we need some sleep, let's go."

"A few more minutes," Chloe said, motioning for Emily to stay seated. "We did come here to talk, right?"

"Yes," Emily moaned. "But I change my mind, I've talked the whole Lucas situation to death with you." Emily lied. She conveniently left the Matt part of her problems with Lucas out of all conversations with Chloe. There is no need for any of that or any of her personal life getting around this office.

"I still think you aren't telling me everything," Chloe slipped into the conversation. "I mean, three weeks ago you guys were fine."

"And three weeks ago you never said a word to me. Things change." Emily replied, then something that had been bothering her came to mind. "You hated me three weeks ago."

"I didn't hate you, I just didn't like you, that much." Chloe stumbled out smiling. "Things change."

"Well, what's changed?" Emily asked. What has changed was that Vitello asked Chloe to get all the information about Emily and Matt out of Emily. And Chloe wasn't about to say no to Vitello considering she was one of the many women who had a thing for him. Chloe didn't always like Vitello, but after one drunken night with him her opinion changed, but Vitello's opinion didn't shift like Chloe's did. Some insane part of Chloe's mind thought she could fix that by pleasing him with digging the info out of Emily. Besides, it's bound to be juicy.

"So, how pissed do you think Vitello is at Kovacs?" Emily said, breaking the silence of her last question. "I mean, I think that the fact that Vitello is never around anywhere but work will take a toll on his countless rendevous with, well, every woman in the state. I can't picture him being too happy about the insane hours Kovacs is forcing us into."

"I guess," Chloe said reaching for another drink and downing it as soon as she could. Emily knew that look that Chloe had. It was the look of wanting someone you can't have, and Emily knew it all too well.

"Oh," Emily said, finally realizing it. "You are one of them." she said accenting the word them while smiling.

"One of who?" Chloe asked.

"The countless who are brainwashed by Vitello's charm." Emily replied. Chloe tried to hide that it was the truth but it all showed in her smile.

"How did you know?" she finally whispered, making sure no one else she knew was around to hear her. "Am I that obvious?"

"No," Emily replied. "Let's just say I've been there."

"With Vitello?" Chloe burst out.

"No! God, no!" Emily replied. "Just, someone." she slyly said, not saying Matt's name.

"Okay," Chloe said letting out a sigh, no information there.

"What has caused this change of heart?" Emily asked. "You and Vitello weren't exactly touchy-feely before."

"Remember that night after the Anderson case?" Chloe asked. Emily nodded grinning, they were away from home on that case for a good two weeks in a town that wasn't exactly acceptant of the FBI. The entire team needed to relax and ended up having far too many drinks for their own good.

"No!" Emily gasped. "Please tell me that you didn't" Chloe just grinned sheepishly.

"If you mean that you don't wanna know that I slept with Vitello that night then too bad." Chloe said. "What do I do? I think I have feelings for him and it's freaking me out."

"Forget about him!" Emily quickly said. "Don't let it go any farther than it already has. That will just lead to more trouble than you would ever want. Look at what that did to me and Matt." Emily said, trying to prevent Chloe from making the same mistake that she did, but she didn't realized what she had just confessed.

"You slept with Matt!" Chloe burst out. Emily just bit her lip nervously, it was a lot more than just sex with her and Flannery.

"Wait," Chloe said, a grin forming across her face and ideas forming. "Things change, huh?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Matt shows up three weeks ago and then by coincidence that's when problems with you and Lucas begin to happen? I don't think so. What really happened between you and Matt?" Chloe asked.

"We went farther than just a one-night stand when I worked back in LA and it blew up in my face. So, just don't go there with Vitello." Emily pleaded, thinking of how she felt when things didn't work out with Matt four years ago. "And don't tell anyone anything about Matt and me."

"Why not?" Chloe asked, looking like she could tell the world Emily's secret.

Emily looked taken aback. "I never even meant to tell you in the first place. But now that I have, I trust you to keep it a secret. Please?" Emily asked. Chloe looked unconvinced.

"And if you open your mouth I can have a little conversation to Vitello about your little crush." Emily threatened.

"Fine," Cosby said, caving in. "But tell me one thing, do you have feelings for Matt?" Emily felt the air go out of her lungs and demanded that they leave now. "Someone's a little touchy on the subject." Chloe said as they were leaving.

Matt was lying on his hotel bed, listening to the messages on his phone. He had one from Frank, who seems to have no belief in Matt's self-restraint when it comes to Emily Lehman, so he has been keeping an eye on Matt and Emily's situation by coaxing information out of Matt. The only info Matt really had to give was that Emily was engaged, but he never told Frank that or told Emily that he knew. He preferred to keep that to himself for now, until he can figure out how her getting married makes him feel. But he's already decided that it makes him feel crazy and jealous. He doesn't even know who this guy is and he already wants to kill him.

The only other message on Matt's phone was from Merideth, who said that Matt has to call her back soon or they will have to have a little talk. Which is never a good thing.

The phone was clicked shut by a frustrated Matt as he settled himself into bed, knowing he would need some sleep for work tomorrow. As he fell asleep, pleasant visions a redhead from his past invaded his mind.

"Morning," Vitello said the next morning, while mindlessly looking up from some papers. Chloe took her seat next to him and gave him a wide smile. "What are you grinning about?"

"I know about Emily and Matt." Chloe mocked. Vitello looked a lot more occupied now, and looked up from the papers on his desk.

"Took you long enough." he said.

"What can I say? Lehman's a tough shell to crack." Chloe said. "Do you wanna know or not?" Vitello looked at her like that answer was obvious, which caused Chloe to smile.

"Of course I wanna know." he finally said when Cosby didn't say anything.

"I believe when I agreed to this I said you owe me." Chloe reminded.

"Yes, and I'll give you anything you want if you got something good out of Emily." Vitello said, making C

* * *

hloe smile even more.

"Fine," she said, leaning in closer to him to whisper the gossip. "Matt and Emily slept together, that much I know." Chloe began.

"Well, I could've assumed that."

"But it seems like they dated for a while. Maybe that's why Emily transferred out here. Maybe it was because they broke up." This earned an eye brow raise from Vitello.

"And Emily and Lucas are having some problems, and I'm pretty sure Matt is the root of them."

"Interesting," Vitello said leaning back into his chair. "Are you sure?"

"Well, I know for sure that they had sex, the rest I added up myself." Chloe responded. Vitello rolled his eyes.

"Well, until we know for sure, you don't get your reward." Vitello said, letting out a chuckle when Cosby began to look agitated.

"Lehman is like a stone wall! You can hardly get her to admit one little emotion unless you pour all the liquor in the bar down her throat." Chloe quietly hissed as she saw Emily walking in.

"Well, let's make her face all those repressed emotions." Vitello said, devilishly grinning as he saw Matt walk in.

"How on earth are we gonna do that?"

"Morning Em," Matt said, taking a seat at his desk which was next to hers, just like their desks in LA. There knees brushed up against each other sending a tingling feeling up their spines.

"Morning Matt," Emily said, trying to ignore how close she was to him as she massaged her temples because of her pounding head from last night.

"Are you hungover?" Matt asked smiling.

"What? Why would you even think that?" Emily asked, trying to cover.

"Trust me, after all those nights at Sloans, I think I know when you're hungover." Matt said.

"I'm just a little." Emily admitted.

"You're not usually one to drink when you have work in the morning. Everything okay?" Matt asked, trying to hide the fact that he was prying.

"Yeah, just stressed over the case." Emily responded. Matt wasn't buying that, so he bit his tongue trying not to say he knew about Lucas, because he was pretty sure that was her problem.

"Well, it's been three weeks and nothing has happened. They're almost ready to send me back. How will you ever survive without me?" Matt joked.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll find some way." Emily replied, smiling, but frowning on the inside because she didn't want Matt to go. Nothing had happened between them and she knew that nothing ever can, but she wanted him to stay.

"In conference room, five minutes." Kovacs shouted out to the team from his office. They all gave nods that they heard him.

"Do you think that can mean another victim?" Emily asked.

"You never know." Matt said. The two turned around when they heard the heavily confident footsteps of Chloe Cosby coming their way.

"Hey, Chloe" Emily said, knowing that she had to pull Chloe aside and make sure that she knows not to tell anyone about what she told her last night. But Chloe seemed to ignore Emily, instead she focused her attention on Matt.

"Morning Matt," she said, flirtatiously. Matt seemed to pick up on her different behavior. He responded his typical morning hello, but awkwardly this time.

"Happy Birthday!" she said, before she shoved her lips onto his, giving him a kiss right in front of a stunned Emily. As she jealously eyed the scene that was playing out before her, she noticed that Matt was not kissing back, he was actually trying to push Chloe away.

Chloe finally broke free, which gave Matt the opportunity to instantly inch backwards, slamming into Emily who was standing behind him. The two just stared at each other, not knowing what had just happened. "Uh, sorry." he mumbled. Emily wasn't sure if he was sorry for bumping into her or for Chloe kissing him, Matt wasn't sure which one of those he apologized for either.

"Um, what was that?" Matt asked turning back to Chloe, then he realized how bad what he had said just came out.

"It's your birthday kiss, because it is your birthday after all." Chloe said. It was Vitello's lame excuse but she went along with it.

"Um, it's not my birthday." Matt awkwardly said. Then Chloe made up a fake excuse on how she was mistaken and so embarrassed before walking back to her desk to prepare for the meeting in the conference room. But before she left she got a good look at Emily, and if looks could kill Chloe would be dead right now.

"What the hell just happened?" Matt asked turning around towards Emily after Chloe left. Emily just sighed. "I don't know, but I have a pretty good idea." she said, she now finally noticed that not just Chloe but Vitello too were observing her and Matt from afar. Matt followed her gaze and the other two spying and prying agents instantly looked away, and then started quietly talking.

"I think they know." Emily said, not needing to specify the piece of information because Matt seemed to know that she was referring to their history.

"Okay," Matt slowly said, not sure how they figured that out. "What are they going to do knowing that?" he asked.

"Vitello and Cosby are great agents, but are the biggest assholes you will ever meet. I don't even wanna think about how they're gonna use this against us." Emily said ominously.

"I think they're catching on." Chloe said. "Where are we gonna go from here?"

"Did you see Emily's face when you kissed Matt?" Vitello asked. "Her eyes turned green with envy and I could've sworn she was about to take that gun that she has and use it to her advantage. She was pissed."

"So, that proves that she still likes Matt." Chloe said.

"It sure proves something. You don't get that jealous over someone you hate." Vitello said.

"Okay, so you found out what you wanted to know."

"Yeah, but I'm not done yet." said Vitello.

"What? Come on, what more could we possibly do?" Chloe asked.

"Come on!" Vitello exclaimed. "You used to be fun and you love messing with people's heads."

"That's what you wanna do? Mess with their heads? We have a case!" Chloe tried to yell at him, but ended saying that in an angry whisper.

"The case is at a standstill. All we're doing is reviewing the same stuff for a million hours a day that's getting us nowhere. I say we add a little fun to it." Vitello explained. Chloe didn't look amused. "Besides, I'll owe you even more if you help me out with this."

"Emily's kinda nice, what can you do for me that would justify screwing with her mind and her relationships?" Chloe asked.

"A repeat of the night after the Anderson case might do it." Vitello answered.

"So, now we're in the sexual favors department."

"Are you gonna do it or not?" Vitello snapped.

"I'm in." Chloe finally said.

The entire team made their way to the conference room to see what Kovacs had in store for their meeting. In front of each of the members was a picture of a teenage girl and then a picture of a car on fire.

"Another victim." Emily said.

"Yeah," Kovacs sighed. "Amy Martins, 17 years old. Someone rigged her car to explode, killing her instantly."

"Any leads?" Vitello asked.

"Not much to go on. She was seen the day before with an ex-con. He seems unlikely, but we have to look into everything." Kovacs said.

"Anyone interrogated him yet?" Matt asked.

"He's not cooperating with police." Kovacs said, pacing around the room now. "I don't think he's our guy, but I have a feeling he's hiding something about Amy Martins. That's what we need to find out."

"But if he won't talk to us..."

"We'll observe." Kovacs cut in. "Observe what his day is like. Observe his reactions. Ask people he knows if they know anything about Amy. Figure out what's going on inside his world without him knowing the police are even watching him. He might lead us to the real killer." Kovacs explained.

"You mean go undercover?" Matt asked.

"Exactly." Kovacs said, preparing to continue to fill in the team on his plan. "His name is Darrel Ronning. His father owns a small hotel chain and Ronning manages and lives in one of them. I figure we go undercover as guests at the hotel to start out with so we can get a feel for him."

Then Kovacs went over and Vitello some folders, containing the identity they will all be assuming.

"I'll take the man on the business trip." Kovacs said, referring to his identity. He did look awfully business like with his suit and tie that he basically lived in.

"You're just taking the business man so you get your own room." Emily commented.

"Well, I am the boss." Kovacs replied.

"What are you doing?" Chloe whispered to Vitello who was playing around with the folders he was supposed to hand out.

"Changing our assignments and therefore, our room arrangements." he replied.

"Okay, Cosby and I play boyfriend and girlfriend on vacation, so we're stuck rooming together." Vitello said. Emily wondered if Chloe had made up her feelings about Vitello to get Emily to open up, but by content look on Chloe's face, Emily knew that her feelings were real.

"And Flannery and Lehman play," Vitello said, looking down at the paper pretending he had no idea what their roles were even though he arranged them this way. "Newlyweds on your honeymoon." he said smiling. "Aw," he added. Matt and Emily's eyes bugged out of their heads at the thought of pretending to be married.

"You guys got the tough parts. Ronning likes to greet all of his newlyweds personally and pays extra attention to their needs since they are paying for the most expensive rooms, which means you'll have a lot of interaction with him. So I expect you two to put your acting skills to the test and act like a couple in love, kissing is also included in that package." Kovacs instructed.

Matt and Emily looked over at each other and then quickly looked away, their eyes still bugging out. They both have feelings for each other again and they both want each other again, even one innocent kiss would push them over the edge. Emily had her fiancé and Matt had his job back in LA, nothing could happen between them, ever.

"Newlyweds," Chloe began. "That means you have to share a room and a bed."

After that was said, two voices suddenly shouted...

"What!"

* * *

**I know this was sloppy, but this is leading into my plans for the next chapter. And there will be a lot more Matt and Emily stuff in the next chapter. So please keep reading and please review!!**


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